The Vitality of the Epistles

About our Lord Jesus, Hebrews 7:23-25 says “Also there were many priests, because they were prevented by death from continuing. But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”

Also, Romans 5:10 says “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”

We have been reconciled to God through Christ’s death on the cross, but we are still being saved, and the program of salvation is in Christ’s life. A great limitation of many Christians today is that we know a lot about Christ’s death and the life which He lived “in the days of His flesh”, as portrayed in the Synoptic Gospels, but we know relatively little about His eternal life and nature.

The purpose of the epistles is to bring us into fellowship with the risen Christ. Those who knew Christ in the flesh could not come into fellowship with His eternal nature, because they were not reconciled to God, and could not receive eternal things. The men who wrote the epistles, however, did not only know Christ in the flesh, they also came into fellowship with the resurrected Christ, and were authorized and anointed to bring others into the same fellowship through their writings.

John said in I John 1:3-4 – “That which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full“.

Paul said “Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.” – II Corinthians 5:16. To know Christ after the flesh is to have only an earthly perception of Him. There is effectively not much of a difference between a Christian who is still in this state and a religious Jew.

But Christ is so much more than what we can perceive of Him naturally with our faculties. We must discern Him spiritually. The key to this fellowship is in the epistles. The epistles will take you higher in your knowledge and experience of Christ. Read the letters until they open up and begin to speak to you. Let them be your breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I pray for you that your eyes will be opened the more to sight the living Christ in the pages of scripture through the anointing of Holy Spirit, and that you may learn His life.

ABOUT LIFE MEETINGS

Life Meetings is a Christian ministry consisting of believers from various local churches who meet regularly to explore the depths and riches of life in Jesus Christ and to push the boundaries of Christian unity and fellowship in an enriching atmosphere of the Holy Spirit.